At First Sight
by vitani and luna
Summary: Hope Winter's is in a coma, caused by person or persons unknown. Her boyfriend Aaron, saves her life. He was about to ask her to marry him. After 296 days, Hope wakes up. Can she remember all that she knew? And is she safe from whoever put her in the coma in the first place?
1. Chapter 1

He visited her daily. Every day since it happened. She hadn't woken up in exactly 296 days, but he still had hope. Hope Winters had been attacked by person or persons unknown 296 days ago, and had received a head injury. That was all. A head injury. But it had been sufficient to send her into a motionless coma for 296 days. A day never went by that Aaron didn't wish he had arrived earlier. If only he had fixed his bike before hand, he wouldn't have had to walk to the woods. He found her. Lying there, in her favourite blue dress, her brown satchel by her side.

Aaron had checked for life signs, and they were there, but faint. And fading. He can't remember how many times he swore when he saw he had no credit and no signal on his phone. At least a dozen more as he tried to calm down. It was then that he knew what to do. He put her bag around his shoulder, and then lifted her up into his arms. Aaron wasn't the strongest of guys, in fact, he was thin and tall and barely in shape. He carried her, constantly swearing the way to the village. When he got there, Hope's sister pulled up in her car. Aaron begged her to help, and of course she did, Aaron lay Hope in the car and sat next to her, cradling her head in his hands. Her sister asked him constantly what happened, but Aaron didn't know. He had found her there, and tried to help her. That's all he knew.

They reached the hospital, and Hope was once again in Aaron's arms as he carried her into the huge white building, her sister close behind. Dr. Mary-Jane came to their aid at once, and she was taken to a room equipped to handle coma cases. Hope was its first victim in 20 years. After only a few minutes, Dr Mary-Jane insisted that only family remain. Hope's sister called their father. He would be there soon. Aaron left the room, and leant against the wall, lowering himself down to the floor. It was only then when he allowed the tears that had been building up inside him to emerge. He constantly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He didn't want anyone to see. He moved slightly as Hope's sister left the room. He thought her name was Grace. Hope didn't mention her often. As he moved, a box fell out of his pocket. Aaron looked at the box, and then got up and ran down the corridor, crying furiously.

It was then that their father arrived. He watched Aaron go. He marched down the corridor. "Did he have anything to do with this?" he growled to Grace, as he looked through the glass window of the door at his youngest daughter. "He saved her." Grace whispered. "Dr. Mary Jane said she only had a few minutes. Dad..." she paused.  
"What?" he said, his mind still distracted. Grace had opened the small box. She handed it to her father. "He dropped this." Inside, on a small soft velvet cushion was a ring. It was gold, and shone of expense. It had two jewels inside, a red ruby and a white diamond.  
"Birth stones." Grace murmured. The girl's father took the ring out and looked inside it. It was the date they had arrived in the village, and a little inscription: _At first sight._ Her father replaced the ring, a snarl on his face. He hated Aaron. He marched back the way he had come.

By this point, Hope had been set up to spend a while in that room, with wires and tubes and machines all around her. Grace walked in again, carrying the box. Grace loved her sister, and knew that she loved Aaron. A single shining tear had fallen from her pale face as she placed the ring on the heart monitor beside Hope's new bed, and then she sat in a chair, and stayed with her sister.

Every day he went to see her. Sometimes, when he should have been at work. But she was more important. Her father had threatened him so many times whenever they'd seen one another at the hospital, but Aaron was determined to change. He had a job now, he managed Hope's favourite shop, the book shop. He'd managed to get enough money to buy the small piece of land where there was a pond. The pond he took her fishing last year. Every memory he could save, he saved. The investigation had proved to be futile. Nothing came of it. There was a bird watchers' film camera in a tree which showed only Hope falling backwards. At the same time, a traffic camera had an image of Aaron, next to a speeding car still in the village. Even though this proved it wasn't his fault, Hope's father still blamed him for it. Aaron blamed himself. If only he'd been earlier. Maybe if he'd run, not walked, he could have helped her. Grace was the only one who understood, and she didn't blame him. They'd become better friends over the past 296 days. And today they had a new experiment to try with Hope. Lavender. Hope's favourite fragrance. Grace lit a Lavender candle and passed it under her nose. Her heart rate increased. The nurse walked in. She took Hope's temperate. Hope's finger moved. She opened her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Aaron couldn't believe it. Grace had already begun to cry. Her eyes. Her beautiful, bright blue eyes. How he had missed them. He was the first person she looked at with those beautiful eyes, and for that he was thankful. It left no time for tears of his own to emerge. She looked at him, but her eyes were blank. Aaron became worried fast. "its me." He said. He cupped her cheek in his hand, and smiled kindly at her. "its me." He repeated, more anxious this time. Grace looked up from her phone. She had called her father. Hope furrowed her brow, and looked deeply at him. Aaron smiled again softly, and her eyes lit up in recognition. "Aaron!" she laughed and she put her hand on his, which had drifted to the edge of the bed. "you had me worried there!" grinned Aaron. They looked into one another's eyes, and Aaron knew she remembered him completely.

"do you remember me?" Grace asked softly. She was shaking. Clearly the thought of her baby sister not recognising her was proving a great strain. Hope narrowed her eyes in concentration, as the nurse took her temperature once again, and took her blood pressure. Then the light of recognition appeared once again, only it was fainter now. "grace?" she asked. Grace laughed happily and wiped away tears as she hugged her little sister. It was only now that the nurse spoke: "Hope, I'm nurse Clark. I'm just going to shine this in your eyes, it won't hurt, I just need to check that your sight is ok." The nurse issued a few more instructions, and was just about to leave when Hope's father came in. He got halfway into the room before he noticed Aaron. His face hardened. "Get. Out." He snarled. Aaron stood. "I have every right to see her." He said, his fist and mouth both clenching. A muscle twitched in Mr. Winter's cheek, and his face was growing red. The nurse was about to intervene when Aaron felt a soft touch to his fist. He turned and looked at Hope. She was looking at her father, but with a look Aaron had never seen before. "I want him to stay." She said.

Her father panted slightly, but then saw the nurse's stern face, and he held up his hands in defeat. As the nurse went to get the doctor, Mr. Winters sat down beside Hope. Grace had given him her chair. He had not thanked her. He looked into the eyes of his daughter and smiled softly. "How are you sweetie?" he asked. Aaron thought this was an incredibly stupid thing to ask, but he didn't say anything. Aaron felt his hand get squeezed again, and then he saw. Hope's eyes were not of recognition, but fear. Her father smiled again at her, oblivious to her thoughts, but getting slowly irritated by her non-response. "Well?" he asked his impatience mounting in his voice. Mr. Winters was not known for his patience. Hope watched him thoughtfully, and then said slowly, "Who are you?"

Her father leant back like he had been slapped in the face. "Amnesia!" he gasped. He looked at Grace. "No point you talking to her then if she won't remember you." Then he looked at Aaron and started chuckling. "Or you!" he laughed, pointing.  
"Actually, Sir," said Aaron, "Hope remembers us just fine." He smiled down at Hope, and she took his hand happily. Aaron's thoughts went blank for a moment as he remembered how much he had missed her soft little hands in his. Unfortunately, Aaron couldn't stay long in his dream state, as Mr. Winters aimed a punch at Aaron, which caught him right in the nose. Aaron was knocked to the floor. He didn't know what to do. Every 19year old urge was screaming at him to fight back, do worse damage to his opponent, but the new, 20year old brain who had been affected by too much violence didn't want anything to do with it. Luckily for Mr. Winters, Aarons' brain controlled his fists. And Hope controlled the distress button. It only took a minute for several male nurses to arrive and escort Mr. Winters from the ward.


End file.
